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U.S. Consumers Borrowing More Again

The Federal Reserve reported on Monday afternoon that total outstanding U.S. consumer credit rose 4.4% in July, from a revised estimate of $2.842 trillion in June to $2.852 trillion. A total of $850 billion is revolving credit while $2 trillion is non-revolving. Consumer credit in the Fed’s G.19 report includes short- and medium-term credit to individuals, and does not include home mortgages.

Revolving credit, which includes credit card debt, was down 2.6% in July after dropping 5.2% in June. Non-revolving credit, which includes car loans and student student loans, rose 7.4% in July after a 9.5% jump in June.

The jump in new car sales in July likely drove the non-revolving portion of consumer debt. Another jump could then be predicted for August, when new car sales were even higher than they were in July.

As for student loans, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) announced last week that it planned to get out of the student lending business as more scrutiny from regulators and federal government programs are taking a larger share of the business. The federal government’s consumer lending total in July was $571.9 billion, more than triple the total outstanding at the end of 2010.